Morality
by I Am The Root Of All Evil
Summary: Set post Deathwish. When the brothers and company are hired out on a kidnapping case, they get more than they bargained for. Can the kidnapping of one girl cause them all to question their morality?
1. Preface

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except one OC and my friend owns the other. If I did own them, you can bet your ass that Ishiah would have help putting up with Robin and Cal.

Note: Like the books, they're told from Cal's POV. I will specify if that changes.

And now...

_**Elsewards to Onwhere**_

* * *

Monsters are everywhere, hiding in plain sight.

Hell, I'm one of them. Born and bred.

To tell the truth, monsters are everywhere, hiding in plain sight. Some of us look like humans and can pass as one without close inspection. There are others of us that are definitely limited to the "bump in the night" category. Purebred werewolves, vampires, pucks, peris, Valkyries and a slew of others fall into the first category. Perfectly human at first glance with subtle inhuman differences.

Things like boggles, mermaids, lamias, trolls, and Black Annis were definitely segregated to the nonhuman section of the theater. Certain low-blood Weres, revenants, and my own demonic sperm donor could pass as human when given the right amount of camouflage.

Just because you can't spot a tentacled slime monster doesn't mean there isn't one of its invisible buddies waiting to eat your face off.

* * *

Hi guys, first story in a sadly long time. Ironic: I'm in a creative writing class, yet I haven't had anything to put up in over a year.

So yea, read and review, please. Or Cal will cry and Niko will get mad. Maybe. He may just laugh.

Evil out.


	2. Hired

Hi, guys, sorry it took so long to get this up. I've been feeling miserable since Friday and the Internet his been wonky all week.

Laughing: Yea, sorry the first one was so short. I just had a really good idea and I didn't want it to suddenly evaporate with the painkillers I was taking all weekend. I'll be sure to make sure the rest are longer.

I'm going to be good at really attempting to keep chapters coming regularly, but we'll see if the great god of college admissions will let me.

_**Elsewards to Onwhere!**_

* * *

With the hopefully final massacring of the Auphe, my psychotic paternal family thanks to daddy dearest, Niko and I spent a lot of time trying to control the flesh-tearing, psychotic bloody chaos causing half of my genetics to take a backseat to my lazy, mystery-meat loving, smart-ass half. So far we found out that superninja's prayer beads, thumps upside my head, and a daily ass kicking worked the best. Which wasn't much different than the routine we had going before psycho-Cal woke up.

Normality. It saves my ass again.

Some days it would be my ass that got kicked. Others it would be the peoples, rather monsters, asses we kicked for pay. Sometimes you gotta love mercenary work.

Other times it was an absolute bitch.

Like now.

Promise had told us two nights ago that she had a client for us that she'd like us to see. I don't know how she got all our clients, or how she made the connections, but sometimes I'm glad I don't know. Most of them were rich, which probably had something to do with it. After all, if you want someone to fight a giant, homicidal eel in the dead of night, you have to be willing to pay. And we would gladly take your money. We needed it.

So here I was, fidgeting in my seat beside my brother, who, calm and serine as any monk, couldn't be ruffled by anything, let alone the receptionist who was a centaur with her black mane of hair plaited with flowers. On my other side was Robin, who was bitching about how Salome, his mummy cat, would demolish his expensive couch if he wasn't home on time. And how we'd have to pay for it. Did I mention we really needed the money?

Close to a half hour later, horse-girl picked up the phone and spoke to the person on the other line, our client, presumably. Her voice was airy and melodious, completely the opposite as to what I was expecting— some deranged female version of Mr. Ed. She came clip-clopping over to us and I noticed that she was wearing a skirt to go with the suit jacket she was wearing. Interesting job. I'd hate to be her tailor.

Niko must've known where my train of thought was headed because he gave me a very pointed look while Promise and horse-girl, I'm sorry _Cindy_, talked. I managed a sheepish grin for him and refrained from making a smart-ass comment. Who says I can't be civil?

"Mr. Fairchilde will see you now," the horse-thing said, walking over to the door to let us through to the office behind.

I managed to restrain myself reasonably well, though a few snickers broker through with my smirk and I guess it showed because she gave me a narrowed eyed glance before going over to her desk again.

"Tact, little brother," Niko said softly, "We shall have to work on that once we are home."

I dignified him with a groan. Great. I had more fun to look forward to. Maybe I should see if Salome would get indigestion from eating an Auphe…

Niko raised an eyebrow at me silently as we were ushered into the room where four chairs sat in front of a big desk. Robin sat in the chair on the far right and Niko and Promise took the ones on the left. I slumped into the only available chair, drumming my fingers impatiently. I immediately lost my impatience when Niko gave me his patented 'I'm going to smack you if you don't discontinue' looks.

The high-backed office chair swiveled round towards us, revealing a rather unimpressive man in his late fifties, early sixties. His hair was gray with flecks of auburn, what I assumed to be his original hair color. Glasses were perched on his beaky nose, doing their damn best to magnify his bloodshot eyes complete with dark circles that envied a raccoon. He fidgeted his hands a bit, nervously like he didn't know where to start.

The real shocker was that he was human. Completely and entirely, not an ounce of supe in him.

"I'm David Fairchilde," he said, finally decided that a preamble was probably not the best way to go about this. "I believe my daughter has been kidnapped."

I barely managed to stifle my groan as Niko made the necessary introductions. I _hated_ kidnapping cases. My brother and a friend had been kidnapped once, Hell I'd been kidnapped for two years— or days depending on which dimension you were talking— and we'd worked a few kidnapping cases. All of them were experiences I'd rather not repeat.

"We're sorry to hear that, Mr. Fairchilde," Niko said diplomatically, shooting me a sidelong glance. "Do you have any information to help us find her?"

"David, please," he said, getting more nervous. "Look, I think it would be easier if I showed you and talked at the same time. Make it easier for you to understand and find her."

Niko nodded, the leader my brother was, and stood, motioning for all us underlings to follow suit. Mr. Fairchilde— David, led the way through a large steel door at the back of his office and down a sterile white corridor.

"I run a sort of research facility for a paranormal investigation group. The Vigil," he said, glancing sideways at me. "I'm sure you know of them."

I bared my teeth at him in my best impression of an Auphe and got a little squeak out of the geezer before Niko bopped me upside the head.

"Please excuse my little brother," he said, "He forgot to take his medication this morning." Ignoring my scowl he continued. "And we do know of the Vigil. They helped us quite a bit a few months ago."

David undid the locks on another, larger door. The kind of door you see in military bases. "Then I'm sure you'll understand the necessity of this," he said, pushing open the double doors and leading us into one cavernous room. "Welcome to the Archive."

Robin and I stepped in first. I let out a low whistle while Robin muttered a low string of swears in Greek.

Around the perimeter of the room were four platforms, each with smaller rooms lining the walls on each level, including the bottom one. The rooms were all the same; white walls with a pane of bullet proof glass as the wall the faced out into the center of the bigger room. The same kind of rooms were arranged front to back in neat rows on the ground floor. Towards the back of the Archive were tanks of varying sizes. Near the left were the kind of liquid filled tubes that you saw in Sci-fi movies, the kind that held preserved alien corpses. There were different things in each room and tank as well as the tubes. And the ones in the rooms were alive.

It looked like Mr. Joe Blow Human had his fingers in every monster pie.


	3. Monsters

Disclaimer: Still own no one. No minions for me. *Sigh*

Sorry that it took so long to get this chapter up. Government class is a bitch like that. But, now it's up. Rejoice, for bad things are about to happen.

Kitten: Oh yea. 'Can things get any worse?' And pop. An Auphe shows up. That'll be great. I'll try to find a way to work some variation of that in somehow, just for you dear.

_**Elsewards to Onwhere!**_

* * *

"Holy shit," I said, not forming anything more eloquent than that.

"Well put," Robin muttered to my right. "This… this is both horrific and amazing…" He turned towards David. "How long did it take to do this?"

I watched as the puck took a tentative step forward, moving between two rooms or cells, as they now appeared to be. In the one to his left was what could only be called a Sphinx and in the one on his right was a Red Cap. There were little white placards labeling everything next to the steel doors that gave entrance to each cell.

"Lets just say I am the third head of this facility and have been for the past forty years," our client said, shifting a bit uneasily. "This way please," he said, leading us around the rows. "As you can see, this place is a huge archive of almost all supernatural entities. Only the extremely rare or benign do not exist here."

We walked down countless isles and I was surprised that most of the… things… here looked actually quite happy. I could guess why. The Vigil was not against humans being used as food for other predators and from the looks of things, most of the man-eaters were extremely well fed. We passed a vampire who was lounging on his bed watching TV with a stack of magazines. A boggle that had an indoor spa filled with mud. Tanks full of kelpies, mermaids, and bishop fish.

We climbed up a set of stairs to the second level of one of the platforms, and then walked half way down. Finally we came to a stop in front of three cells. The one on the far left read _Lilitu_, the one in the middle read _Lilu_, and the third was empty and read _Incubus_. Inside the first two cells were what I had known to be a succubus and an incubus.

"I think your label maker is broken," I said. "Because that guy," I continued, pointing at the decidedly naked snake man, "Should be in there." I indicated the empty cell to my right.

"I can assure you our labeler is just fine and all inhabitants here are correctly labeled and in their correct cells, Cal," David said, still rubbing his hands together. "It's a common mistake. Lilitu and lilu are Sumerian. They are the snakes that led Eve to the fall of Eden, if you believe in that. They function the same as an incubus, feeding off energy through the intimacy of sex. But that's where the similarity ends." He led us over to the empty cell and pulled a file out of a holder attached to the door front, handing it to Niko who immediately started to read it. Wise choice, there. My literature usually involved female astronauts in Lycra suits.

"Incubi are very old, very powerful creatures. They feed through the act of sex but they also feed off the blood of their victims. They can manipulate dreams and invade minds," he continued. "They can shape-shift into anything they can imagine and even mimic a person's voice. Their scent can act like an aphrodisiac as well as a narcotic.

"They're very rare and nearly impossible to breed. That's why Lilu are usually called an incubus, because they are so much more common. If you ever meet a true incubus pray that it doesn't take a fancy to you."

"What about succubi?" Niko asked while turning another page and reading.

"Incubi and succubi are the same species, but an incubus is born male and a succubus is born female. Since they can change gender it's very hard to determine which is which, but their initial gender seems to be the one they prefer," David said.

"So what are we dealing with?" I asked, peaking over Niko's shoulder.

"Succinct as ever, Caliban," Robin muttered, looking around.

"I believe an incubus, a true incubus kidnapped my daughter," the man said, worrying his hands a bit more. He took five gasmasks off a hook outside the door and handed them to each one of us. "Here, let me show you." He strapped his mask on.

I raised my eyebrow at Niko and the others as they put theirs on then looked down at mine. "I think I'll pass. I need to know his scent if we're going to catch him. I'm assuming incubi smell unique?"

David frowned slightly, if the wrinkles on his forehead were any indication, but nodded. Then he pushed open the door and stepped inside, motioning for us to follow.

The minute I stepped inside it hit me.

The smell in the room was so thick I could almost see it. It was like someone had mixed a slaughterhouse and a brothel together, though the result was not unpleasant. It was a rather enticing smell, a heady one too.

I swayed on my feet as it started to affect me then promptly passed out as all the blood rushed away from my head to a more southern location.

* * *

Close to five minutes later, I came to on the floor outside the cells, the incubus— lilu— whatever, in the next cell staring hungrily at me. Well not so much at me as at my pants. I looked down and groaned. "Nik?" I asked weakly.

"Yes, little brother?" came the reply from above me to my left.

"Wha' happened…?" I mumbled, blinking my eyes a few times. The fluorescent lights overhead were too bright form my eyes and the world was tilting a bit.

"Your pride and joy woke up and got excited, and you passed out because your teeny brain lost most of the blood in your body to your penis," Robin said smugly. He sounded like he'd been laughing.

I scowled and tried to hit his foot… and missed by like three feet. That made the bastard laugh harder. "Asshole," I muttered.

"As Robin said, you passed out. We discussed the situation and we're about to go home," Niko said calmly after successfully glaring down at the puck. "We're ready when you are. I'll tell you what you missed at home."

"I'm sorry about that," David said, coming into my line of vision, "I should have warned you that his scent can be pretty overwhelming to those with keener senses of smell. It's part of his allure."

I groaned again and flopped back down onto the floor, covering my face with my hands. Promise helped me up with a small smile and I was grateful that she didn't comment on the fact I was having trouble walking.

* * *

Back at the metaphorical ranch after a long, blessedly cold shower, I sat on the couch while my brother explained the jist of what I needed to know. Well more like what Niko thought I should know but knew I would never read. Actually, it was what Niko wanted me to know, but understood that pounding my head in was a lot less helpful then telling me in non-boring, Cal-sized bits of information. Okay, semi-non-boring.

The incubus in question went by the name of Nyx. No clue why, because based off all the mythology and crap Niko had squeezed into my head over the past four years, Nyx was a girl's name. And from the pictures, this guy was _very_ male. It— he— stood at around 6'2"- 6'3" with pale, bone white skin like mine. Inky black hair touched his shoulders and in some of the shots, fell in front of his eyes. His eyes… damn they were freaky. In all of the shots they were a deep crimson red. The kind of red of freshly spilt human blood. Auphe eye red.

Niko's mouth had that stiff set to it that usually showed he was annoyed, but I didn't know what he was annoyed at until he yanked the pictures out of my fingers and shoved them into the manila envelope and then buried the envelope under the rest of the paper work. Then I got it. Ignoring his pointed look, I pulled the full body picture out as well as the one of just his eyes.

If you didn't look too closely at them, there was an uncanny resemblance between him and me. The same pale skin, same light-swallowing hair. But there were subtle differences, but to him I'm sure they mattered. Hell they mattered to me. Where I had a fair amount of muscle on me from all the training Niko's hauled me through, he had very little that stood out to detract from other things. Like his dick. If I was well endowed, he was a friggin' god. Though I guess he'd have to be, considering his primary food source came from the pleasures my little friend were just starting to experience.

But his eyes were the real difference between us. The red in them was so different, so creep-out alien, that it never left your mind. It was lighter around the edges, but got darker as it moved towards the center and merged into a void of a pupil as black as his hair, just like a pool of blood was darker at the deepest part. But the real thing that wigged me was the fact that the camera had managed to capture the malice, the pure evil and blood lust that his eyes held. If nothing else had, this one fact about him brought the monster he was into pure focus.

And that's what bugged Niko and I. I was pretty damn certain I would have turned out similar had I inherited more of the Auphe side of my genetics, red eyes or not. Niko had spent my entire life telling me, reminding me, that I wasn't a monster. Here was what I would look like if he was wrong.

I gingerly returned the pictures, not wanting to touch them now that I saw Niko's point of view. My brother relaxed slightly, a slight nod of approval was granted to me before he continued.

* * *

After everything was explained in majorly simplified terms, our meeting still ended close to two in the morning. I yawned while Niko let Robin and Promise out and pondered how the Hell we were going to catch this guy. According to our handy dandy file, Nyx could walk through walls, teleport, change his form, control someone's mind, and was strong enough to punch holes through walls even if his lanky, non-muscular build didn't lead onto that. But then again, he was a supernatural creature and most of them were exceedingly strong. And aggressive.

"So how the Hell are we going to find this guy, Cyrano?" I asked lazily from my sprawled position on the couch. Hey, my couch my right. Well, Niko's couch. But it was still my right.

Niko rolled his eyes and shoved my feet and the lower half of my body off the couch and sat down, slightly more relaxed though I could see the outlines of his knives under his shirt. I guess that was why he was more relaxed. He must have put more on while I dozed.

"You know," he said in a deadpan, "I hadn't really thought of that but I suppose we could just start with the usual method and look."

I shot him an annoyed look and quickly moved my feet to his lap with enough force to make a man sterile. Knowing what I was going to do, Niko caught both my legs an inch before they made nut paste.

"You know what I mean, asshole," I snapped sleepily as Niko set my legs across his lap and raised an eyebrow at me. "I mean, he can walk through fucking walls! How the Hell are we supposed to find him and the girl."

Niko gave me a look that meant 'refer to previous answer before I hit you'.

"Moving on," I said hastily, "Why would he choose now to leave the Archive? He can teleport anywhere he wants yet he was there for close to five years and never left once. Why now?"

"An excellent question, little brother," Niko said, his gaze turning thoughtful. "Perhaps he had no reason to leave before. According to the file, they'd give him transfusion packs of blood and put a human in there with him every other day. He was fed well and didn't have to hunt."

He pulled out a small picture that had been given to us of our kidnapee, Belle. She had auburn hair that fell to her mid-back and green blue eyes. The smile she wore made her eyes shine and her cheeks were flushed in the picture as if she had been laughing. In her lap was a grey-black puppy with its tongue lolling out of its mouth.

"Perhaps Belle changed his mind about the comforts of a pampered life where his dinner was chosen for him," Niko said quietly, staring down at the picture, "David said she had just got out of grad-school and was working at the Archive for several weeks before she vanished three days ago and the incubus with her. Maybe his instincts kick in when she started to work there constantly instead of visiting only a few times a year. Maybe he started hunting again."

He set the picture down on top of all the other papers and books we had pulled out for reference before padding of on silent feet to his room. I looked down at the smiling girl and silently vowed to get her back from the monster that had taken her. I closed my eyes and saw a vision of blood red eyes hungry for blood. Nyx's eyes. Auphe eyes. It didn't matter. I would rescue this girl from whatever monster had taken her. No one deserved to be kidnapped by monsters, and I was an expert in that area.

* * *

Read and review. Share and Enjoy.

...I sound like Hitchhikers Guide and Sirius Cybernetics Corporation...


	4. Nightmares

Disclaimer: I own no one, nothing, and have very little amounts of money. The only one I own is Nyx, and even then that's not much. Kitten owns Belle.

Ugh. Sorry it took so friggin' long to get this up, guys. It's that joyful time of year where all us broke college seniors are scrambling to get scholarships, and most require really long, really boring essays. Again, sorry.

Johnny-on-the-spot: Thank you! It is always nice to see a new reviewer, especially one who doesn't live like a minute away from me. *Cough* Kitten *Cough* If I have my way with things, I'll try to kick as many of these bad-boys out as I can while trying to keep all the snarky Cal goodness in.

Kitten: Now I know what you feel like when I pester you to write. I'd say I'm sorry, but we both know that's a lie and I don't feel like lying to you.

A big thank you to all those who have read this, are reading this, and will read this in the forth coming future. You are truly wonderful for putting up with my lazyness, delays, and ramblings. Thank you.

_**Elsewards to Onwhere!**_

* * *

Nightmares.

They're a bitch no matter how old or tough you are. I've seen Niko through his fair share of them and God knows I've had more than enough of them myself. I'm man enough to admit that at twenty years old, they still scare the shit out of me.

The main problem is, my nightmares are based in reality and trust me, that makes them a whole lot worse than having spooky dreams invented by a sadistic subconscious. No dreams of falling out of windows when you live on the first floor for me. No, I get the dreams where your demonic relatives come to drag you kicking and screaming through a rip in reality.

Tonight's midnight creature feature was slightly different. Yes, the Auphe did come to make me miserable, and miserable I was. And yes, they were out in hordes proving that once again I had failed to end their miserable race. But the weird part about my dream was that there was always a shadow lurking in the corner with glowing red eyes, but it wasn't an Auphe.

Lucky me I knew of one other thing with red eyes.

So when I woke up screaming and thrashing, it wasn't just because my aunties and uncles had dragged me to Hell, cackling all the way. It was because while I was in Tumulus, I had been forced to watch as the incubus violated a girl with an innocent and trusting face, then drained her and tore her apart with his bare hands out of boredom.

I really hoped I hadn't inherited any psychic abilities from Sophia's Rom heritage, because that truly terrified me and I didn't want it to happen. Ever. I was terrified of the Auphe, sure, but I had beaten them so many times that they had become more annoying than scary. But watching that girl getting torn apart was horrifying and disgusting. The worst part was she was begging as he touched her, wanting more. And she didn't fall silent until he ripped her throat out.

I got up and plodded into the living room/kitchenette and collapsed onto the couch with a groan. In seconds my brother was next to me, offering me a glass of cold water for my throat and smoothing my sleep-matted hair. I may live in nightmare central, but by god I had the best brother there ever was. He didn't question what my dreams were about, didn't ask if I was all right. He just sat there, repeating three words to help me.

"Fish-sticks and cartoons," he said quietly, over and over until I numbly joined in the mantra.

Five minutes later I was sitting upright with a blanket around my shoulders and a gun happily in my lap. Niko hadn't even broached the subject of my nightmares, though I knew he was curious. We hadn't seen an Auphe since the nuking of Tumulus, and the sight of them usually caused my scare-fest dreams.

"He was in them," I said weakly after a moment.

"He, who?" Niko asked, not allowing any surprise in his voice though I knew I caught him off guard.

"The incubus. Nyx. Whatever," I said glumly, closing my eyes. I immediately jerked them awake at what I saw lurking behind my eyelids. "The girl was there too. He… he got her. He got her bad. It was like it was really happening."

Niko actually sat back and looked puzzled for a moment, his mind quickly working through the vast knowledge of everything important.

"Ah…" he said after a moment. "Ironic, though I don't believe he caused it." He was being vague again, the smug smart bastard.

"I'm tired Nik," I grumbled, "No Jedi mind games till noon."

He leveled an even look at me. "You should have been paying attention better when I explained things to you the first time, little brother," he said, completely calm, "Otherwise you would know what I was talking about."

"It's three in the morning!" I nearly shouted.

"Knowledge knows no bounds of time," came the serene, sagely reply from superninja. I tried to hit him and he simply batted my sleep-deprived hand out of the way and into a wristlock. After several minutes of scuffling, swearing and various other humiliating fun on my part, I wound up face down with his knee between my shoulders and my hand twisted in a position that was painful just to think about, let alone experience.

"Alright… I give," came my muffled concession. "Bestow your knowledge and don't break my arm." It pissed me off. Not an ounce of supernatural in him, and he still kicked my ass at three AM when most humans should be too tired to take a pee properly. But it grounded me, and for that I was grateful.

"Your arm is safe," Niko said, "It's your shoulder that's in jeopardy." He let me up. "Anatomy will be our next lesson, though I'd hoped you'd learned it by now."

"I know anatomy," I said, "Cut here, here and here or shoot there and they're dead." I made motions to various arteries and squishy bits. "And I know that if you get a girl to—"

The rest of my statement earned me a narrowed eyed look and a thump to the head that cut off something rather interesting. Trust me, it was interesting.

"Crude, but practical," he said, settling down again, "And if you ever try to bring up something like that again, you will be on house arrest with no visitors until I've determined whether your innocence can be salvaged."

I gulped and quickly changed the subject before my mouth shot off again and made little Cal died from neglect. "You said that you had something to tell me…" I said, rather speedily.

Niko smirked slightly, acknowledging my tactful change. "Ah yes, about your nightmare," he said, "Incubi are often associated with them. Several myths have stated that they actually induce them."

I gave him a look that said I didn't care. "And how does that have anything to do with my nightmares?" I asked.

"I'm getting there," my brother said with a look of annoyance, "From what I've learned, incubi have to have physical contact with their victims. Obviously he is not here. And I doubt he even knows who we are." He sighed. "So for now I say we assume that it was just a nightmare."

"Whatever. I'll take first watch anyway," I muttered, settling down. "Go rest. I'll wake you in four."

I heard my brother sigh but get up and walk down the hall. When we'd been on the run, we'd trade watches. We hardly did it now, especially with the Auphe hopefully dead and gone, but I decided it was better sleepless and safe then dead in my bed.

Locks couldn't keep this guy out. He could walk through walls and teleport faster than an elf could gate. It was insanely unlikely that he knew about us, but on the off chance that he did I wanted there to be some defense in place against him. I didn't want to be asleep when he decided to sneak up on me. After all, I already had enough nightmares to deal with.

* * *

By the time the evening rolled around, I was ready to just kill the incubus when we found him. Every time I tried to fall asleep, I saw the same scene played over and over. By now I was more than sick of it.

Apparently it showed when I walked into the bar because Ishiah, my winged boss, raised his eyebrows and said simply, "You're being Auphe."

I glared at him, grabbed an apron and fastened it around myself before working to calm down. It wasn't for me, but for Ishiah that I was even trying. While the Auphe had been gunning for me, they'd taken down one of my coworkers. The result hadn't been pretty for anyone, especially not Cam, but I had lost my job for a few weeks. After hearing of our vengeance for the dead peri, Ishiah reluctantly let me have my job again. It was slow progress but things were getting better.

Several minutes later I grinned at him to let him know that I was better before I started hustling booze. All in all tonight was a good night.

It was also a slow night.

Niko was there around midnight once I called him and told him we were closing early. He waited patiently, sipping juice as I finished my duties and waited for my share of the tips. He watched the dark corners of the bar, just in case, just as he always did. He didn't speak, just sat and observed. Like a freaking statue, my brother was.

I grabbed my coat and pulled it on, about to head out when my brother spoke.

"What do you know about incubi, Ishiah?" he asked. I hadn't even noticed he was still seated. I rolled my eyes and sat down near him, stealing his juice.

"I'm assuming you mean incubi, not lilu since you know enough to kill one of those garden snakes already," the peri replied, his wings rustling uncomfortably. "Incubi are disgusting, loathsome creatures. They lie, cheat, steal, and will sleep with anything that holds still long enough."

I wisely didn't comment on how much that sounded like Robin while making a mental not to get the two together. They'd be best buddies.

Ishiah also seemed to come to the same conclusion. "Worse than the puck," he added. "They kill for the fun of it, or if they're bored. They like to toy with peoples minds because they can." He put a glass away with a loud thunk. "Why do you ask?"

Niko and I exchanged looks. "Because our client believes an incubus kidnapped his daughter. Three days ago," he finally said. I watched as he produced the picture of Belle and one of Nyx's. "Have you seen either of them?"

Ishiah frowned as he looked at the pictures. "No," he said, "And I don't think I will." He slid the pictures back towards Niko. "I hope you don't run into him. If it's been three days, that girl is already gone."

I watched as my brother's eyes flashed and narrowed. "Thank you, Ishiah," he said, "Though we'll still try anyway." With that he got up and headed towards the door.

"See you tomorrow, Ish," I called.

As we walked out the door, I distinctly heard my boss mutter "Fools."

* * *

We walked in silence for a while, my hands in my pockets, clutching my knife while Niko, ninja extraordinaire, needed no such physical security blanket. It was all in the mind, after all, he'd say. The two of us melted into the thinning crowd of the darkened streets perfectly, moving like wraiths. That thought was like a bucket of cold water to my brain. If we were wraiths, then the incubus was a fricken shadow. If we were all but invisible in the crowds, he was like the night itself.

I didn't have to meet the guy to know just how dangerous he was. According to Niko, they were night-dwellers, preferring darkness to daylight.

And here we were, a couple of snacks wandering around in his hunting grounds. I'd prefer not to go fight a tiger in his den.

Unfortunately for me, it seemed like that was what we were doing. Niko had taken a detour somewhere along the way back "home", and now we were the only two people walking through a run down part of the city, complete with broken down warehouses and gaping slum buildings. I pulled my knife free and held it as we walked past yet another apartment building that had seen better days.

"What are we looking for?" I asked, though I had already guessed the answer. From the steely look in Niko's eye, it was easy enough.

His eyes slid over towards me before going back to their ceaseless inspection of our surroundings. "We're looking for his nest, little brother," he said, his voice so quiet I wouldn't have been able to hear it if not for the eerie silence that surrounded this part of town.

Internally I groaned, but I'm smart enough not to complain. Much.

"Wouldn't it be better to do this during the day?" I asked, trudging along beside him. He was as light-footed as a fucking cat, where as I sounded like an elephant at best.

"Maybe, but then we'd risk the chance of being ambushed by him if he senses us coming," Niko pointed out, taking a left at the sixth or seventh skeletal apartment we passed. He waited for me once he sensed my confusion.

"But aren't we trying to find him?" I asked, mentally kicking myself for such a stupidly phrased question. But Niko knew what I meant, the good brother he was.

"Yes, but I'd rather find where he is first so we can ambush him. According to what I've read, you never want to fight something like him face on, where they have the most advantage to trap you," came the patient response from the darkness to my left. I heard a sword whisper from its sheath as a sudden chill raised the hairs on the back of my neck. We were close.

"So we here on the hopes that he's out for the night so we can scope his hidey-hole?" I asked, lowering my voice as much as I could. I made a good attempt anyway.

"Precisely," Niko said as he stopped near a rundown warehouse and crept towards the door, the black-coated blade of his katana as stealthy as he was. He pushed against the door and got it open with minimal creaking, though it was hard considering the rust on the hinges had rusted.

The instant the door swung inward, the skin on the back of my neck tried to crawl off my body. The heady sent of blood and sex wafted out and threatened to make me woozy before I put my hand over my nose, breathing through my mouth. Niko looked at me before pulling an honest-to-god bandana from his pocket and offering it to me. I tied it around my mouth and nose before proceeding with more caution.

"Rob a bank anywhere, Cal?" Niko asked as he went first into the maw of the incubus's personal playground. I was tempted to hit him until I caught my reflection in the dim light of a mirror on the wall. The bandana was bright red and with my inky hair and pasty while complexion, I looked like I had come off a wanted poster.

Somehow, Niko flicked the right switch and half the lights in the place flared to existence, nearly frying my sensitive eyes. They watered and stung for several minutes until they adjusted and I was able to see.

The warehouse was pretty barren, all in all. There were old factory work tables scattered about. Some had been toppled while some had been moved to the other side of the large room. Nik and I ghosted silently through the building, looking for signs of life. There was none, though the scent still lingered and got stronger as we neared the solitary office in the place.

Niko cautiously peaked through the crack in the door that hung funny before pushing it open. Much to my surprise it was devoid of life. Guess I was luckier tonight than I thought. I could tell instantly why the scent was so strong in here. This was where he lived, slept and most likely fed.

Pillows and cushions lined the entirety of the floor, every inch covered in something soft. Blankets and more pillows lay tangled at one side of what I guess was his bed and there was a bag of clothes on the rickety desk in one corner of the room as well as a hair brush and a few other personal items. The entire room reeked of his scent and I didn't dare go inside any farther than the threshold. Even then it was almost overpowering.

Something metal caught my eye on the table, next to a hairbrush. "What's that?" I asked, my voice stiff as I tried not to be suffocated by the smell of incubus.

Niko navigated the pillowed danger of the floor before picking it up, letting the pendant for the necklace dangle from his hand as he held the chain. It was the letter B.

* * *

Right, it's up folks. Cliffhangers are a bitch, I know, but they're so fun!

Read and review, share and enjoy, go through life with a plastic boy or girl... *breaks off humming*


	5. Searching

Disclaimer: Still own no one, 'cept Nyx and I'd gladly pay someone to get rid of him.

Seems like I'm saying this a lot, but I'm truly sorry I haven't been able to get my ass on the comp to work on this as often as I like. Who thought senior year could be this hard? But good news! I got into UC Santa Cruz! Woohoo! And less than a month I'll have summer vacation. Yay for me and for all you guys who read my stuff. Kudos to you for sticking with a lazy procrastinating author. Sorry! I'll be better. Hopefully.

Nana56: Thank you so much! I strive to emulate the style of the original author, rather than force the story into my own. Which is rather weird because my normal style is very similar to RT's. And yea, Illinois is definitely more than a minute away from me... several thousand I think.

Laughing: Good to see you back again, I always enjoy seeing a familiar face (metaphorically speaking). I'm glad you've enjoyed the story thus far and I'll hopefully see you back again.

Kitten: We're those all the same thing? And yes, I know you did it intentionally. And yes, I do know your love of cliffhangers because you're just that cruel to your poor readers. Besides it gives me reason to bother you for more. *Grin* We all know you'd wither and die without my daily annoyance.

Thanks to all of you who have read, are reading, and will read this. And Rob Thurman if you're out there, YOU'RE AMAZING! Whee! This is dedicated to everyone who has either put up with me, made me laugh, or inspired me some how. That includes all the authors.

_**Elsewards to Onwhere!**_

* * *

"Son of a bitch," I said in a voice so stunned that I'm still not sure it was my own, "That God damned son of a bitch!"

Niko wisely said nothing, simply putting the necklace back on the table next to the obviously feminine hairbrush. There were strands of auburn caught between the tine, making my gorge rise and anger grow.

"That fucking bastard!" I yelled in frustration, lashing out and putting my fist through the wall on the other side of the narrow hallway. "We're too late Niko, he already got her. She's dead. He ate her."

I continued on like this for who knows how long until Niko emerged from the office-converted-sleeping space. He froze next to me, suddenly very, very alert.

"Cal," he said, his voice so soft I could barely hear it over my ravings, "Shut up."

I instantly did. He hardly ever told me that, in those terms. I could feel him tense next to me, like a bow just before the arrow is released. I carefully undid the safety on my gun and loaded the chamber. And then I heard it too; bare feet and the sound of nails clicking on the chipped linoleum flooring, just around the corner from us. The sounds of walking stopped and were replaced by two sets of growls, both feral and threatening.

Niko and I turned to find the incubus standing behind us, maybe twenty feet down the hall. The pictures of him did not do him justice at all. They had captured the cold feral look in his eyes and the pale colour of his skin, but not the ferocity and terrifying gleam to those red depths nor the marble-like look to his completely hairless skin, which seemed to be stretched across the steel of his muscles and bone. The fact that he was completely butt-naked did nothing to put of the sheer piss your pants terror, but some how made him scarier. The fact that his mouth was open, baring fangs sharper than any vampire's at us helped too.

At his side stood a dog that seemed more wolf than puppy. Since his hackles were raised and his long, ivory teeth were bared in our direction, he was definitely looking wolfy. His black-grey haunches met the sex fiend's mid thigh and his head came up to just under his navel. Big dog. Big, angry dog with a big, angry master.

I would have been more terrified if I hadn't remembered that I had my own personal hand-cannon with me. Which I then aimed at Nyx and pulled the trigger, catching him in the shoulder and taking a chunk of meat out too.

He snarled loudly, his eyes flashing dangerously. Before I could get another round into him, both him and Cujo were gone.

Gone.

Just evaporated into thin fucking air.

Enraged, I put six more shots into the wall behind where they had been and would have continued to do more had Niko not grabbed my wrist and forced the gun down. I stood there, shaking with anger, for what seemed like an hour. I only moved when Niko propelled me out of the warehouse.

"We have to go," he said, pushing me out onto the more crowded sidewalk, "We have to go home now."

The trip home passed like a blur, with Nik guiding me through the thinning crowds and back up the stairs to our building. I remember him pushing me through the door, then hearing the clicks of every locking system known to man. We stood in silence for a moment.

"We need to talk about what just happened," he said after what he had deemed suitable pause time, his voice even. His underlying words spoke loud and clear. 'We need to talk about what you just did and why you blew your cork.'

"No," I said, "We don't." I stared at him defiantly before dropping my gun on the kitchen table and walking towards the bathroom.

For once he didn't stop me.

* * *

I woke early in the morning to the sound of my sorry ass being tossed all over the room. At the ungodly hour of 6:30 AM, Niko had dragged me out of bed and proceeded to beat the anger and snot out of me. He succeeded greatly, since I was now tired and my nose felt too big for my face. It was now 9:30 and I still hadn't gotten any breakfast. It was hard to squeeze in a bowl of cereal between being taken down and put in a hold and then being thrown across the room like a rag doll.

I flopped pathetically on the couch, rubbing my sore nose. I'm no pushover and I'd gotten some hits on him, but damn, Niko was fast and I wasn't fully awake. I wouldn't be awake until noon. For the moment, my brother let me lie there, panting and covered in more sweat than a Texas Marathon runner.

"Drink," he said, handing me a glass of his god-awful wheatgrass juice. "Before you sweat out what's left of your brain."

I gave him a sour look and managed to get down two mouthfuls without gagging. Robin had once stated that it tasted like warm liquid cud, and frankly I had to agree. Niko's solitary claim was that the moldy-green liquid was 'healthy'. Yea, well meat was healthy for me too, though he told me frequently what I considered 'meat' required the word 'mystery' in front of it.

He looked very calm today, as he went back into the fridge and fixed me my breakfast. He was freaking Cinderella with a knife fetish. I gulped audibly, worried that he was planning on making me clean to 'build character'. His freakishly calm smile usually meant that he had something unpleasant in store for me.

"What are you plotting?" I asked warily, resigned to my fate, as I dug into my Frosted Flakes. His blonde eyebrow raised a fraction, his best 'what are you implying?' face. "I know it's something. Spill."

"Well since you asked so nicely," Niko said, after a suitable suspense filled pause and a bite of wheat toast, "You are going to clean all you weapons, then clean the bathroom and we are going out. If you're lucky, I'll let you off your leash." He said the last part with a playful gleam in his eyes, a gleam that the only response I could think of was to stick my tongue and middle finger out at him. Again, the eyebrow went up.

"I'll add the kitchen to that list if you're not careful," he said thoughtfully and I hastily stowed my body parts while shoveling food down my throat. The rest of breakfast continued on it's merry way, the two of us sitting in comfortable silence. Niko was thinking, I could tell by the look in his eyes. Me, I was trying not to go back to sleep in my cereal bowl.

As it turned out, Niko did make me clean and reassemble my weapons by myself— under supervision, of course. I did have to clean the bathroom and kitchen, though Niko helped. And then he made me shower in our sparkling clean bathroom after him which meant I had to mop up all the water that had dared puddle on the superninja's tiling.

So by the time 1:00 reared it's hideously sunny and hot head, Niko and I were out of the house, armed to the teeth and walking with a purpose. I didn't ask where we were headed. I didn't need to. The way Niko carried himself meant we were going to one place and one place alone.

The incubus's warehouse.

* * *

By the time we got to the rundown building it was brighter, hotter, and I was sweating more than I thought possible from walking a place. The place had lost its only bit of creepy charm in the daylight. Broken, gaping windows framed a double door that was only half hung on its hinges. The once white walls were grafittied beyond recognition and covered with red-brown stains from God-knows what. It didn't look much like a psychotic monster's secret hide away; more like the next building on the demo-crew's list.

Judging by the wrecking ball parked not too far away, I think it was.

"Maybe they'll knock it down while he's in it," I commented with sadistic hope. I know it was a low blow, but a man could hope.

I was answered with a very droll look from Niko. "Having a building collapse on him would do very little, if anything at all. It'd probably make him more angry." The tone of his voice was dry, though I could sense a bit of amusement and a little hope as well. My brother drew his sword, the surest sign that we were in hunting mode.

I took out a rag soaked in knife oil that I had "borrowed" from Niko's stash and tied it around my nose and mouth, just like I had with the 'Tumulus incident'. Then I pulled out my Desert Eagle and loaded the chamber after checking everything out. Lets see if explosive rounds did more to dent him than regular bullets.

After we gave each other the once over, Niko pushed open the door, letting the afternoon light stream into the building. If only the guy was friable like a vampire, this would be so much easier. As it was, he was simply nocturnal and we could not turn him into incubus bacon if we shoved him into the sunlight. Superninja went first, pushing through the creaking doors and into the so-called abyss. We wove between the chairs and tables, down the hall, until we came to the office.

Niko leveled his sword at the door as I took aim, waiting for our assault to begin. I watched in slow motion as Niko creaked the door open to reveal… nothing. Absolutely nothing. The damn room was as devoid of life as it was yesterday. The blankets and nesting stuff was still there, as were what I'm positive were Belle's things, but no Nyx.

"Damn it!" I growled, but I reined my temper and didn't fire. Yet.

"Perhaps he moved," Niko said, "Or is out for the day."

"Yea, but why would he leave his shit here if he moved," I said irritably, kicking a pillow out of my way. "And I thought you said he was nocturnal."

"Obviously, he's not completely bound to the night."

"No shit," I snapped, stomping out. This pissed me off. The longer he was alive, the longer he was terrorizing people. Not that I gave a damn about the rest of the world, but there was a high probability that he would be hurting innocent people, and also coming after me and Niko. I had no doubt in my mind that sooner or later our midnight spat would turn into a full-blown war.

I pulled the cloth away from my face and shoved it angrily in my pocket, muttering things about pain and death under my breath. It seemed to make Niko more relieved that I wasn't shooting inanimate objects in my frustration. He seemed to give me a few points for that, because he didn't stop me or scold me.

Niko followed me silently, waiting until I worked out most of my frustration storming my way onto the street before he stopped me and headed us towards a Dunkin Donuts of all places. I was confused and irritable for several mores minutes why we were there of all places, instead of hunting incubus. Then it hit me when Niko ordered a whole bag of cinnamon sugar doughnut holes.

"We're going to see the Korrigan?" I asked, feeling uneasy. Korrigans were Celtic fairies or their equivalent of. They liked to haunt fountains, wells and waterside caves, trying to make men fall in love with them so they could kill them. For fun they liked to screw with humans heads. Fun little buggers, Korrigans.

"Yes," Niko said, "We're going to see Aisling, and you had best check your temper this time."

He ignored my groan as we walked to Central Park and the lakey-pond therein. Well he walked and I dragged my feet, trying to prolong the inevitable. Aisling was our Korrigan informer and she hated me. That was mostly because I had tried to blow her brains out, but she deserved it.

The first time we met, she had tried to trick me into her den where I knew she was going to kill me. I had played along for a moment before I realized how to stop myself. I wound up putting two bullets into the walls of her cave and a knife in her stomach. Niko was the only one she'd talk to now. Go figure.

My brother gave me a very bland look as he knocked on the top of the hollowed out rock where the Korrigan made her home. After several swears in what I assumed was Gaelic, a short, skinny woman wearing a simple green dress emerged. She brushed her knee length yellow-orange hair out of her dark pink eyes. Eyes that she fixed on me and glared.

"You want to die, elf-spawn?" she spat, her voice odd since it combined a New York accent with an ancient Irish lilt.

"You want to get eaten, midget?" I snapped back, though I kept most of my temper when Niko silenced us both with a look.

"We brought doughnuts, Aisling," he said, ever calm as he held up the white bag for her to see. Immediately her eyes widened and she reached for it.

"GIMME!"

"We came for information," my brother continued as if the childish squeal hadn't interrupted him. "A trade."

Bribing with food seemed to be an even better way to get answers than our usual scare shitless tactic. Besides, Aisling, much to my dismay, was a lot smart than Boggle had ever been. If we scared her, she'd kill us.

"Fine," the ancient, two and a half foot tall sprite huffed, "What do you want and I get one per answer. Cinnamon?"

"Of course," Niko said, pulling one out to show her. "Have you heard tell of an incubus around here? A true one, not a lilu."

"A form-changer?" Aisling asked. At my brother's nod she continued. "Yea. He comes through here every night and picks off a few muggers. He hasn't come by me yet." She held out her hand for the doughnut then stuffed it greedily into her mouth.

"Do you know where he is?" I asked, ignoring her 'no-speak-to-Auphe rule'. I glared at her as she gave me a foul look and waited for Niko to repeat the question.

"Last I heard he was in a run down shipping plant somewhere," she answered around a mouthful of pastry. "Why?"

"He's our target," Niko said simply. "Would you be able to find out where he is now?"

"For a price…" the Korrigan said slowly, grinning slyly. It widened at Niko's aggravated sigh.

"Doughnut holes every day for a month."

"Two."

"One. And a bottle of whiskey a week."

Aisling smiled and stepped towards the trees again. "You have yourself a deal, Mr. Leandros. You gotta picture of him?" Once Niko handed over one of the copies he'd made, she loped off into the trees and out of sight.

Not five minutes had passed before she came back, looking very shaken. She looked back towards the trees and shivered.

"Well?" Niko and I asked together, growing impatient.

The Korrigan let out a sigh. "Very well. Follow me."

She turned and headed down the trail, walking so we could keep up. For someone half my height, she was amazingly quick as she weaved between the trees and seemed to be following some sort of scent or trail. I stiffened as I smelled it too, the farther we got from her little den. The scent of sap mixed with the unmistakable scent of incubus.

We rounded a little cluster of trees and there, leaning against one large tree, was Nyx.

* * *

You know the drill... don't make me say it...


End file.
